Tenth's Companion
by Lioness2012
Summary: Greave stricken hermione wonders into the forbidden forest. Meets the doctor… please review


**Chapter One: A New Face**

"I recall it was a Tuesday…" Luna Lovegood said to her friends Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Neville, and Ron.

The six of them sat around an old Hogwarts park bench, playing a game of 'remember when'. They were genuinely laughing, which was hard to imagine given the circumstances of the situation; it was the one-year anniversary of the wizard war.

"It may have just been a Tuesday for you, but I remember that day as a defining moment for me, and I think that goes the same for all of us." Harry stated coldly and immediately stopping all of their laughter. "I'm serious, that night at the ministry opened my eyes to what was happening and what I must do. I… I think I knew even back then that I was the seventh hurucrox…" he trailed off and looked down at the ground.

Ginny took that opportunity to comfort her fiancé. She wrapped her arms around his middle and held him, rubbing her nose against his solder.

Yes, it had been a long year for all of them. From the countless funerals to the paper front pages and even coming to terms with what had happened. "At least we still have each other."

By that time everyone was so entranced with the silence, they almost didn't hear Neville's comment. Hermione snapped her head up to look at him, here eyes swollen from un-falling tears.

She felt like she lost more than any of them… though she knew that that was not true. However, she had failed to get her parents and their memories back. Every chance she got; she spent the time beating herself up for it. Ron helped as much as he could for her, but she slowly began to back away from him after the first few months post-war. He didn't give up, not really, but he's trying to give her space to help her. But in the end he took it upon himself to always look out for her from the corner of his eye.

'The spell was so simple!' she thought to herself on many occasions. The spell was indeed simple, so simple that she thought it to good to be true when she first decided to erase her parent's memories. Genetic sort of spell it was, only people with the same genetic make-up could lift it from them. But when that time came… nothing, her parents just stood there, gawking at her as if she had just ran away from the asylum.

"Are you going to be alright?" Ron had been watching her the entire time.

She whipped her head around to look at him. She opened her mouth to speak but too soon they were all distracted by a weird echoing sound, almost like metal gears, coming from the direction of the forbidden forest, it started out barely a whisper before becoming slightly louder and then stopped.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"Honestly Ronald!"

"But… that noise!"

"What was that?" Harry asked peering into the direction in which the sound entered.

"dun'no" Neville responded "should we go have a look?" there as an uncertainty in his voice, he was showing slight signs of pre-mature fear.

"I'll do it!" Hermione leapt to her feet and started assertively marching off.

"Mione!" Ron reached out to grab her arm, but she whipped it out of his reach.

"I need to cool off, I can protect myself from any sort of monster… I am Hermione Granger after all" she smiled a bit before continuing on her quest. The other five stood there.

"Should we fallow her?" Ron looked vigorously between the others and geared up to start walking in her direction.

"No, let her be… I don't think its anything to be worried about" Ginny touched his solder to stop him. In which he huffed at her before walking away.

"HELLO?" Hermione spun around on the spot in the forest; all she could see within and beyond the trees was more and more trees. "Is any one there?" she said in a smaller voice, more a question for herself than anyone else. After a while wait, she herd a small rustle of the auburn leaves; it got louder and louder before the noise stopped right behind her.

Her heart was thumping loudly and she could feel the blood pump rabidly to her head. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes she turned around.

"Well hello there!" came a voice, a man's voice. "Why are your eyes closed?"

"What are u? An acromantula? A centar? Troll perhaps?" she didn't know why she was keeping her eyes shut. But it seemed to bring her some sort of security to lean on.

"acromantula? Is that some sort of spider? I most certainly am not a troll and I only have two legs." He replied with a slight undertone laugh.

Hermione opened her eyes to see a man in his mid-twenties standing before her. He had thick brown hair, green eyes, had a medium build, and was around 6 feet tall. "Oh… your human." She stated in a tone that didn't sound impressed.

"So are you…where am I?" He asked looking off into the never-ending forest.

"Hogwarts forest" she stated simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hogwarts?" he seem to be asking himself more so than he was asking her, that was easy to tell based on the crease lines he made of his forehead.

"School of witchcraft and wizardry?" she offered not quite as confident as her past few statements.

"There are school for witchcraft!?" It was as if a dog had just been informed that he was getting raw meat for supper, the way the man perked up was of pure wonder and astonishment. "What time is it?"

"Around 5:30 I'd say"

"No, the date" he said it in a voice that may have passed as a way to downgrade her intelligence.

"Oh?" she looked at him as if he were the most clueless man in the world. "July 10th"

"Year?" he furthered her.

"1999"

"Brilliant!" he said scanning the forest quickly. "And who might you be dear?" it was odd the way he spoke, it was like he was much older than he was… it wasn't like he was talking down to her. It was like a grandfather to a granddaughter way of speak.

"I'm called Hermione Granger." Her voice was hopeful. "And what's your name?"

He paused, looking her up and down as if he was searching for something that she might be hiding. "I'm the Doctor… Hermione, like from The Winter's tale?"

No body had ever asked her about her namesake, yes most people found it a bit odd while others said it was whimsical… but nobody had ever made the connection about her name and the works of Shakespeare.

"Yes, my parents were quite fond of his work." She offered in a voice that trailed off.

"Brilliant!" She was caught off guard by his reaction.

"The Doctor, doctor of what?" was the other thing on her mind, his odd name.

"Oh, many things! But no time for that we must be off!" he snagged his hand in her own and attempted to drag her into the direction he came in.

"Who boy! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Hermione stomped her foot into the ground as sturdy as she could.

"Ill explain later, winter, just come along." Winter? _'like the play…' _ she concluded but still wanted to refuse to go with him, oh how she wanted to turn tail and run. But there was something hidden in him that she could sense, like she could strongly trust him.

After a while of her tugging on her arm she pulled it from his grasp. "I'll come, no need to man handle me!" she snapped at him was a stern look.

"Alright then!" he smiled before retrieving in to the forest, leaving her to fallow.

"Where are we going?" she asked after a minute or so.

"The TARDIS" he half shouted behind him.

'_The what?' _her mind was screaming at her to leave now and never mention this to anyone, but she ignored it and simply continued on.

They stopped in front of an old deep blue police box, a muggle police box. "Here she is" he smiled and retrieved a key from his pocket. "Ladies first" he offered.

She walked past him was a mischievous look on her face, she walked into the box only to find the most astonishing of things.


End file.
